MOLE Valley planners are on a collision course with developers over a major homes scheme pencilled in for a plum site at an important entrance to Dorking town centre.

County highways experts are also concerned about the development that is close to the Deepdene roundabout and would include a large nursing home. The land is occupied by nine boarded-up detached family houses and has lain vacant for a decade. It was originally acquired as an edge-of-town store for Sainsbury’s but failed planning permission.

Linden Homes now has plans for 49 apartments and a 70-bedroom nursing home, with a new access from Reigate Road. Fifteen apartments would be earmarked affordable.

Members of the district council’s development committee will hold their first public discussion on the scheme at their meeting on Wednesday.

But their backroom planning experts have prepared a lengthy report suggesting the design is too cramped and other major drawbacks.

The influential Dorking & District Preservation Society is also unimpressed. It accepts that homes should be built on the site but says its importance calls for an outstanding design that is less intensive.

Highways experts added further objections, saying it would create a new junction to the busy Reigate Road resulting in safety problems. The site is more than a hectare but the development could be a first phase of what might eventually include two further properties in Deepdene Avenue.

The three-storey residential care home would occupy a quarter of the land. The apartments would be in seven detached buildings of three and two storeys. They would comprise 29 two-bedroom units, 11 three-bedroom and nine of one bedroom.

The public who attended an exhibition at the Dorking Halls last September highlighted a number of concerns. Issues relating to traffic, highway safety and inadequate parking were top of the list. There were also fears over the scale and height of buildings and their uniform design. In particular the buildings fronting Reigate Road were considered too high and out of scale with the neighbourhood. The care home was thought to be dominating, and a play area – part of the scheme – was felt to be inadequate.

In their report the council planning experts say the site is an important one at the eastern entrance to Dorking. Clearly visible from the A24 and the A25, its redevelopment would have significant impact on the character and appearance of the surrounding area and the “perception of Dork-ing” to the many people who pass along these major roads.

The report says officers are concerned about the height and massing of the care home, which is completely out of scale with neighbouring buildings. They are also worried about the siting of several of the buildings in relation to each other and proximity to the boundary.

Buildings visible from the main roads would be cramped and harmful to the street scene, they believe.